Christianity and American Democracy (Alexis de Tocqueville Lectures on American Politics)

312 Pages·2007·0.77 MB·English

by  Hugh Heclo

CHRISTIANIT Y
A N D
A MERICAN
DE MO CR ACY
Hugh Heclo
The Alexis de Tocqueville
Lectures on American Politics
(cid:2)(cid:3)

Christianity and
American Democracy
(cid:2)(cid:3)
Hugh Heclo
With responses by
Mary Jo Bane
Michael Kazin
Alan Wolfe
Harvard University Press
Cambridge,Massachusetts
London,England
Copyright©2007bythe
PresidentandFellowsofHarvardCollege
Allrightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
FirstHarvardUniversityPresspaperbackedition,2009.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Heclo,Hugh.
ChristianityandAmericandemocracy / HughHeclo ; withresponses
byMaryJoBane,MichaelKazin,AlanWolfe.
p. cm.—(TheAlexisdeTocquevillelecturesonAmericanpolitics)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-674-02514-1(cloth : alk.paper)
ISBN978-0-674-03230-9(pbk.)
1.Democracy—Religiousaspects—Christianity.
2.Christianityandpolitics—UnitedStates.
I.Bane,MaryJo. II.Kazin,Michael,1948–
III.Wolfe,Alan,1942– IV.Title. V.Series.
BR517.H45 2007
261.70973—dc22 2006052596
c o n t e n t s
ForewordbyThedaR.Skocpol vii
1. Christianity and Democracy in America 1
HughHeclo
2. Democracy and Catholic Christianity 145
in America
MaryJoBane
3. Pluralism Is Hard Work—and the 167
Work Is Never Done
MichaelKazin
4. Whose Christianity? Whose Democracy? 185
AlanWolfe
5. Reconsidering Christianity and 209
American Democracy
HughHeclo
Notes 243
Acknowledgments 284
AbouttheAuthors 286
Index 289

f o r e w o r d
In early March of 2006, an interdisciplinary
group of students and faculty—political scientists, historians, so-
ciologists, and others—assembled at Harvard University to dis-
cussthemutualinterplayofChristianityanddemocracyinAmer-
ican history. The focus was as much on the content of Christian
beliefs as on the organization of religious institutions, and the
principal lecturer, Hugh Heclo of George Mason University, ana-
lyzednotjusthowChristiansandtheirbeliefsandpracticeshave
contributed to society and politics in America, but also the ways
inwhichAmericandemocracyhaschangedandchallengedChris-
tianity. Ranging over many decades of the American past, Heclo
portrayed an unprecedented rupture starting in the 1960s, when,
he argued a “secular awakening” emerged, fueled by movements
andactorswhohaveworkedtodisplaceChristianityfromthehe-
gemonicculturalauthorityitpreviouslyenjoyed.
Heclo’s lecture—witty, learned, and provocative—was deliv-
eredinasemicircularconferenceroominthenewCenterforGov-
ernmentandInternationalAffairsatHarvard,andafterwardsthe
floor was opened for questions and debate from the surrounding
audience.Thenextmorningeveryonereassembled,andthreedis-
tinguished commentators explored new dimensions of the ques-
tion and challenged Heclo’s thesis, before he rejoined the discus-
sion and the audience jumped in once again. Deliberately drawn
from different disciplines and points of view, the commentators
weresociologistMaryJoBaneoftheKennedySchoolofGovern-
mentatHarvard;historianMichaelKazinofGeorgetownUniver-
vii
Foreword
sity; and sociologist Alan Wolfe of the Boisi Center for Religion
andAmericanPublicLifeatBostonCollege.
ThesepresentationsanddiscussionsconstitutedthesecondAlexis
de Tocqueville Lecture on American Politics. Made possible by a
generous gift from alumnus Terry Considine, the Tocqueville se-
ries is an occasional set of debates sponsored roughly every year
and a half by the Center for American Political Studies at Har-
vard.FollowingfromtheMarch2006occasion,thisbookmakes
Heclo’s lecture, the three commentaries, and Heclo’s rejoinder
availabletoabroaderaudience.Itappearsataresonantjuncture,
forweliveinatimewhenreligiouslymotivatedChristianactivists
areplayingmajor,highlyvisible,andcontentiousrolesinshaping
U.S. public debates, tipping electoral outcomes, and demanding
shifts in public policy. Of course, as we are reminded by Heclo’s
lecture and by the rich commentaries of Bane, Kazin, and Wolfe,
Christian religion and believers have always been in the thick
of cultural and political developments in America. From the first
andsecondGreatAwakenings,throughthecrusadesagainstslav-
ery, to the clashes of Protestants versus Catholics, down to the
civil rights movement of the 1950s and early 1960s, Christians
haveassertedthemselvesandremadeourdemocracy.Inturn,the
dynamism of markets and the cacophony of civic participation
in America have challenged and changed Christian practices and
beliefs.
Heclo offers a fresh perspective on the past—and breaks new
ground by arguing that this long-term, complex symbiosis may
be coming apart in our time, leading to deepening estrangements
betweenbelievingChristiansandotherAmericanswhoaredeter-
mined to promote fervently secular conceptions of public values.
Heclo explores the possible consequences for government, poli-
tics, and society—and for different groups of citizens. The com-
mentators, in turn, take issue with important aspects of Heclo’s
portrayal of American political and cultural development. Mary
Jo Bane draws our attention to the distinct experiences and be-
liefsofCatholicsinaProtestant-dominatednation,whileMichael
viii
Foreword
Kazin further deepens our sense of conflict and diversity. And
AlanWolfeoffersanalternativereadingofAmericanpoliticalcul-
ture,especiallyinourowntime,suggestingthatHeclo’sprophecy
ofa“comingrupture”maybetoodark.Hecloacknowledgesthe
validity of much of what his critics have to say, yet reasserts and
reinforceshisownmaintheses.
Readers of these remarkable exchanges will decide for them-
selves, bringing new insights to the dialogue. That is as it should
be,andthebroadenedengagementwillfurtherrealizethepurpose
of Harvard’s Alexis de Tocqueville lectures and books—to carry
forward in our own time and through our own explorations the
questioning about America that the namesake of the series so
splendidly practiced when he visited these shores some eighteen
decadesago.
Theda R. Skocpol
Director(throughJune2006),CenterforAmericanPolitical
Studies,HarvardUniversity
ix